A History of Sanskrit Literature c9.17

c9.17

The tiger is not mentioned in the *Rigveda* at all, its natural home being the swampy jungles of Bengal, though he is now found in all the jungly parts of India. But in the other Vedas he has decidedly taken the place of the lion, which is, however, still known. His dangerous character as a beast of prey is here often referred to. Thus the *White Yajurveda* compares a peculiarly hazardous undertaking with waking a sleeping tiger; and the *Atharva-veda* describes the animal as "man eating" (*purushād*). The relation of the tiger to the lion in the Vedas therefore furnishes peculiarly interesting evidence of the eastward migration of the Aryans during the Vedic period.